Short term fame and fun off the expense of others can really end up being a Hard Knock Life. A Florida man who posed as a part of the Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation entertainment and management company entourage, wearing furs, renting Rolls-Royces and carrying out elaborate stays at high end hotel suites in Atlanta has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
29-year-old Aaron Barnes-Burpo scammed high end hotels for weeks into believing that he was paying the final bill with a certified check from Roc Nation and used false credit cards to leave $2500 deposits, as long as they didn’t charge it. Until a suspicious employee at his final hotel stay on November 21, 2019 followed through on confirming that the man was an imposter.
Now what’s the verdict? The Crestview, Florida resident was sentenced to seven years in federal prison after his guilty plea for wire fraud. Barnes-Burpo has been ordered to pay nearly $300,000 to 19 businesses he defrauded, and he is required to serve three years of supervised release after finishing his prison term. There is no parole in federal prison. His co-codefendant Walker Washington, 52, is still awaiting sentencing.
When Barnes-Burpo’s was researched by authorities, they discovered keys from hotels across the country and a paper that had credit card numbers written on it in his vehicle. Also found were multiple lists of record labels and their personnel were scribbled on papers. Authorities also uncovered online log-in credentials for the operation that had simple passwords such as rocnation123. Barnes-Burpo’s cellphone showed how expansive the scam was with photographs and screenshots of information used to defraud businesses.
Written by: @thehappytherapist – Ms. Sonia Singh
